A large percentage of 'losers' will invariably
prove too much of a liability to keep alive. The
dogs being mere pawns in the Coursing game, are
considered too costly a burden for trainers and so
called owners to feed and maintain for another
year. These unfortunate dogs will be marked for
disposal by either shooting or lethal injection ,
some may even die before the Powerstown Park gates
close at the end of the 2001/2 season.

Less successful dogs will no doubt end their days
suffering with untreated injuries in Dog Pounds
around the country, many being dropped off to be
killed on the way home from Coursing trials, a
quick disposal for the small sum of 18 euros. The
pounds kill these gentle majestic animals on
demand, knowing that in Ireland, the worlds oldest
pedigree dog is rejected by the majority as merely
a running machine. Other countries such as the UK
and the USA cherish these dogs and adopt them as
the loyal human companions they really are. They
are known as the 45 MPH couch potato in the
States.

Sentiment and profit are mutually exclusive in a
world where winners live (at least till the next
event) and losers pay with their lives. An insight
into the nastier side of the Greyhound business is
well hidden from the public gaze as death is part
and parcel of this outdated barbaric business -
and not just to the gentle hares.

In Ireland the Irish Coursing Club has made no
provisions for these dogs, they merely promote the
fast buck and encourage over-breeding without a
consideration that healthy young dogs are dying in
their thousands.
22,000 greyhound pups were registered in the year
2000. 128 dogs took part in the Oaks/Darby at
Clonmel.

Killing
of greyhounds in Spain
Discovery of a mass grave in Chueca, Spain, March
2nd, 2002. In the neighborhood of this little
village of 275 inhabitants near to Toledo, corpses
of Galgos have been found among heaps of bones
which proves that the killing has been going on
till today.

An eyewitness said : "we counted 6 dogs but
skeletons were spread all over the place. The
beige Galgo had been shot in the side, the other
dogs had been hung. The killers then detached the
dogs and put them in bags to drop them in the mass
grave afterwards !" Innumerable times killed
Galgos have been found.
You can see the pictures on the website www.greyhounds.be

From
Irelands Greyhound Weekly - DERBY 'CASUALTIES'
There have been a number of other Derby
casualties. The very promising young dog Ardbeg
Bob had to be put down after smashing his leg
around the second bend on Saturday night. He had a
bump with Quattro Power and smashed the leg in the
fall. A sad blow for owner Bill Merrick and
trainer Paul Hennessy.
Quattro Power didn't come out of the incident
secure either. One of his owners Cahal Curley
reports that his dog has run his last race after
aggravating the wrist injury which affected him in
the tote gold collar final at Harolds Cross. He
had set a new record at 29.65 in the first round
of that competition. The lightly raced dog , he
won seven of his seventeen races will now be
retired to stud.
And also retired is that smashing bitch Glenwood
Sassy. The daughter of Inter Racing and Camels
Music . The bitch sprained a wrist and is now to
be retired to the breeding Paddocks. She won nine
of her 22 races.
Note. Paul Hennessy was also the trainer for the
Late Late Show dog.

(4/07/02)
Police plan Songkran massacre for dogs
Source: Bangkok Post
Wassayos Ngarmkham
The days when stray dogs can make the Crime
Suppression Division their home may be numbered.
Police are threatening to turn next week's long
holiday into a bloody Songkran for about 20 stray
dogs which have made CSD headquarters on
Paholyothin road their home for years.
Officers say the dogs foul the canteen and scratch
and urinate against their cars. However, one
police sergeant is trying to spare their lives.
Pattaraporn Srithong, 49, said some colleagues had
told her of a plot to poison the dogs, which she
considers part of her family. She believes they
may die over the Songkran holiday. 'I am sad. I
can't eat or sleep. Songkran is just round the
corner but I still do not know how to save their
lives' Pol Sgt Pattaraporn said.
The mother of three children feeds the dogs,
bathes them and plays
with them.
She loves them first. The dogs love her back. The
thought of not seeing them again breaks her heart.
Pol Sgt Pattaraporn said she knows not all people
like dogs but thinks they could at least show a
little mercy. The culling has already begun. She
said she felt angry and helpless when she learned
that a dog was shot dead near the canteen last
week.
She would visit the office with her husband and
children every day during Songkran, in the hope
that would deter further killings. On weekdays,
she mixes leftovers from the office's canteen with
rice she takes from home for 'her friends'
When the dogs are sick, she takes them to a vet
who charges her half his usual fee. ``I pay
3,000-4,000 baht for these dogs a month. That is
more than half of my salary. Some people think I'm
crazy,'' she said. Some bosses, however, donate
items to the dogs, she said.
Pol Sgt Pattaraporn says she feeds dogs she sees
on the street and treats them with pain-killers if
they are sick. She was trying to find dog shelters
in Nakhon Nayok and Nakhon Pathom for the police
strays.
'I want my dogs safe. It's better to miss them
than see them die' she said. A CSD source said one
officer keen on the 'revenge killings' found dog
faeces in front of his newly-decorated office and
became upset.

Man
admits killing thousands of dogs.
A Florida man has admitted shooting and burying
greyhounds at a charge of £7 per animal for more
than 40 years.
Investigators have found the remains of as many as
2,000 animals, including hundreds of racing dogs,
on the man's 18-acre site.
State officials obtained a search warrant Tuesday
to search Robert Rhodes' land after receiving a
tip from investigators.
Satellite images showed animal bones strewn about
the property and investigators used the
photographs to convince a judge to issue the
warrant.
Florida officials were investigating allegations
that greyhounds from Pensacola Greyhound Park, a
dog-racing track, have been improperly destroyed.

Korean
cruel handling of dogs before they are beaten to
death.
The cruelty in the handling of dogs during their
slaughter has raised the anger of animal-rights
activists. Strung by their necks, the dogs are
beaten to death.
CANINE cuisine is becoming a fad among the young
in South Korea and China, much to the dismay of
animal-rights activists.
Restaurant owners and dog-meat watchers confirm
that youngsters are now taking dog meat as part of
their regular diet - much like beef or chicken -
as food joints dish out trendy new recipes to whet
appetites.

Canine friends said to have basic math
skills
LONDON, England (Reuters) --Dogs are probably much
cleverer than most people think, according to a
new study.
Scientists are convinced that dogs can count and
researchers at the University of California,
Davis, say they try to convey different messages
through the pitch and pace of their barks.
"Animal behaviorists used to think their bark
was simply a way of getting attention. Now a new
study suggests that individual dogs have specific
barks with a range of meanings," New
Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.
Dogs usually use high-pitched single barks when
they are separated from their owners and a lower,
harsher super bark when strangers approach or the
doorbell rings, according to Sophia Yin, an animal
behaviorist at the university.
Playful woofs are high-pitched and unevenly
spaced. Dogs also know when they are being
short-changed on treats
because they have a basic mathematical ability
which enables them to tell when one pile of
objects is bigger than another.
"But to count, an animal has to recognize
that each object in a set corresponds to a single
number and that the last number in a sequence
represents the total number of objects," New
Scientist added.
Tasty treats Robert Young of Brazil's Pontifical
Catholic University of Minas Gerais in Belo
Horizonte, tested the theory on 11 mongrels using
dog treats.
The canines were shown treats and then a screen
was lowered and the goodies were left as they were
or some were added or taken away.
If a treat was added or taken away the dogs looked
at the treats much longer than they did when the
goodies were not disturbed, presumably because
they had done their sums and the numbers did not
meet their expectations.
"Dogs are descended from wolves, which not
only have a large neo cortex -- the brain's center
of reasoning -- but live in large social
groups," the magazine said.
Young believes the mathematical ability could have
been used to work out how many allies and enemies
they had in a pack.

News
of the World - 18 August, 2002 - Callous pet
owners in the doghouse - by Aine De Paor
Tight-fisted dog owners would rather see their
pets put down than fork out for their upkeep in
kennels while they jet away on luxury holidays.
That's according to workers at one Dublin pound
where animals are routinely abandoned. The dogs
face certain death - unless they are taken on by a
new owner they will be destroyed.
However, that doesn't seem to bother their callous
masters. Kennel worker at the Navan Road pound,
Karen Bruce, said: "They put them in and then
swan off on their holidays. Some of them will have
had the dog for years but they have no problem
handing it over - they're not even embarrassed.

"August is the worst month of the year - we
sometimes get up to 15 dogs a day handed in.
"And I've NEVER seen anyone come back after a
two-week holiday to pick up their pet." The
dog-lover insisted that heartless owners know
exactly the fate awaiting their pets.

They are required to sign a form saying the animal
will either be rehomed or put down. And less than
half the dogs are taken on by new owners.
However, on the rare occasion an owner does
return, it will be for a very different
reason.
Fumed Karen: "They'll sometimes come back
looking to take on a PUPPY. "They want to
start off again with another victim, but of course
we wouldn't give them one."
She added that some miserly owners also use the
pound to have their dogs put down for free.
She said: "They don't want to pay the vet -
it can cost up to E70 - so they bring them here'